


She’s Gone...

by Blake_Belladonna_Defence_Force



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Main Character Death, Referenced bumbleby, volume 8 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29270664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blake_Belladonna_Defence_Force/pseuds/Blake_Belladonna_Defence_Force
Summary: When they realise that Yang may not have survived, Ruby and Blake’s world turns on its head.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 21
Kudos: 244





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a conversation with
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/users/DazzleYourMindsEye/pseuds/DazzleYourMindsEye

_ “Please stay in your homes until a select team of special operatives and junior huntsmen have dispatched the whale Grimm. I repeat; stay in your homes until the whale has been dispatched.” _

The broadcast James Ironwood had played throughout Atlas rings through the back of her mind. There’s something about that doesn’t sit well with Blake, dread settling into her stomach as she stands by Ruby’s side and looks out of a window, their gazes locked in the direction of the where they know the whale to be. It’s easy to surmise that the “junior huntsmen” are Yang and the boys… but what reason could they have for helping the Ace-Ops? 

Blake swallows thickly. Fear courses through her and she feels helpless. It was one thing knowing that Yang was down in Mantle… but knowing that she’s entering the belly of the beast? It feels her with a primal terror. 

The sound of an explosion fills the air and they watch as flames and smoke rise above the city. Blake feels everything stop, her heart, her pulse, her mind… until it comes crashing back and the only thought in her mind is Yang.

_ Yang. _

_ Yang. _

_ “Yang!” _

A scream rips from her throat and before she can truly think things through, she’s running. Her breath is coming is short, hyperventilating gasps, with her one goal being to find her partner and do  _ something,  _ as hopeless as it all seems. 

A body crashes into hers, sending them both to the floor, and she struggles against the tight hold, gasping desperately as tears flow from her eyes.

“No! Let me go! I have to-  _ I promised her I wouldn’t leave! _ “

“No!” Ruby yells, grunting and spinning Blake around. Her hands find Blake’s face, holding her and pressing their foreheads together in a desperate attempt to keep Blake’s focus on her. “No, Blake! I am  _ not  _ gonna lose another sister! I can’t!”

Blake freezes, Ruby’s words and the break in her voice cutting through Blake’s desperation to get to Yang. She lets out a small sob, her watching as similarly heartbroken tears fall down Ruby’s face and she  _ damn well knows  _ that she can’t ask Ruby to let her go. Reaching up, she curls her hand around Ruby’s neck and holds her close as they cry, their heart broken sobs echoing throughout the halls of Schnee Manor. 

Blake feels her heart break. After everything they had been through… she never got to tell Yang how she feels. She’s never get to see the way her eyes light up before she makes a stupid joke ever again nor the way her smile would turn soft and crooked whenever Blake took her hand. She’d never be able to feel her steady warmth, her hand pressing against the small of Blake’s back as a gentle reminder that she’s there…

Because she’s not and she never will be again.

* * *

Horror fills Ruby and she freezes to her spot, her silver eyes wide as she stares in the direction of the explosion. She doesn’t know how long she would have stayed that way if it hadn’t been for Blake’s gut wrenching scream. When Ruby turns, her stomach drops at the sight of Blake running and she does the only thing she can; she activates her semblance and tackles her friend to the ground.

Blake’s stronger than most people would think. Ruby grunts as she avoids Blake’s arms, her friend’s heartbroken sobs and pleas cutting into her like a knife. In a moment of inspiration, she recalls how often she had seen Yang press her forehead against Blake’s, how much it had always seemed to soothe her when she was upset, and she cups the side of Blake’s face firmly and presses their heads together, ignoring the tears that fall down her own face.

“No!” Ruby yells, her heart racing as terror and heartbreak encompasses her. If Blake runs off in the state she’s in… then Ruby might lose her too and she  _ can’t _ . “No, Blake! I am  _ not  _ gonna lose another sister! I can’t!” 

The words fall from her lips and, not for the first time, she thinks of how easy friendship between her and Blake had always been. There has always been a quiet and mutual understanding between them, a gentle respect for one another. Even if they didn’t talk as much as the others, the bond had always been there and it’s always grown stronger day by day. She isn’t sure when she had started seeing Blake less as a friend and more as a sister… but she does know that losing the sister she chose  _ and  _ the sister that was hers by blood would  _ kill _ her. 

Her heart breaks as their cries echo through the empty halls of Schnee Manor. Yang had always been there when she cried, ready with a hug and an awful joke to cheer her up. She’d never again get to turn around and see her sister watching her with a proud smile lighting up her features. She’d never be able to tackle her and tussle with her when she had had enough of Yang’s teasing. She’d never be able to make fun of the way Yang would look at Blake and she’d never be able to apologise for fighting with her…

Because she’s gone and Ruby Rose knows better than anyone that ghosts don’t hear apologies. 

  
  



	2. She’s Home

The moment she reunites with her team, she feels the heavy weight of her younger sister crash into her, her arms wrapping tightly around Yang’s neck as the younger girl lets out a choked sob into her neck. Swallowing thick, Yang curls her arms around Ruby and cups the back of her head, lowering her head to hum a quiet song into her ear that had always worked to soothe her.

It works, for the most part.

She can still see heartbreak in her sister’s eyes when she pulls away and she gently wipes tears away from Ruby’s cheeks, her chest cracking open when apologies fall from her sister’s lip about their fight. She’s quick to pull Ruby back into her arms, murmuring apologies of her own and a gentle “It’s okay. I love you. No fight could change that.” into her ear. When Ruby pulls back next, she sniffles lightly and looks back over her shoulder as the door to the room creaks open and she smiles before looking back at Yang.

“I’ll give you two a moment.”

And she leaves, passing by a shell shocked Blake who silently shuffles into the room and lets Ruby shut the door. She can see raw pain in her partner’s face, as though something had been ripped from her very soul, and she steps forward.

“Blake…”

Her voice spurs Blake into action and before she can prepare herself, Blake’s in her arms, sobbing into her neck and clinging to her fearfully. Yang grits her teeth against the tears that form in her eyes and she pulls Blake to her body, letting herself lean against a nearby wall and slide down. Blake’s in her lap, trembling and crying into her shoulder as Yang holds her, trying to soothe her as best as she can.

But Blake, for as many similarities as she has to Ruby, can’t be soothed with a gentle song.

She’s not sure how many minutes go by or if it’s actually hours. But eventually, Blake pulls back and sits back on her heels in between Yang’s legs, reaching up to curl her hand around the back of Yang’s neck in a desperate attempt to keep her close.

“If you  _ ever  _ scare us like that again—“ Blake’s voice gets stuck in her throat, breaking and shattering as tears spill down her cheeks. “— we thought you  _ died _ . We- I-  _ fuck!” _

“Shhh.” Yang shushes gently, cupping her partner’s jaw and brushing tears away tenderly, her heart twisting violently as Blake whimpers and leans into her touch. She presses their foreheads together, watching how the simple gesture seems to soothe Blake, offering her an anchor to ground herself with. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m here.”

“We can’t lose you,” then, a moment later, in a voice so small and vulnerable that Yang can feel it in her very soul.  _ “I  _ can’t lose you, Yang.”

Yang swallows, hard. It always hits her hard whenever Blake speaks her name. As though it’s a word of reverence and adoration. As though  _ Yang’s  _ name is the only one that matters. Blake, somehow, puts  _ so fucking much  _ behind Yang’s name and it threatens to make Yang fall. “You won’t. You’re not getting rid of me that easily, okay? I’m here and I am  _ always  _ going to find my way back to you.”

Blake sniffs, her breath leaving her throat shakily, and she settles herself between Yang’s legs, burrowing her face into her neck as the door freaks open once more and Ruby and Weiss poke their heads in. Blake lifts her head wearily and, in a move that quickly melts Yang’s heart, holds her arm out for Ruby and Weiss to join them. Weiss sits by Yang’s side, wrapping one arm around Yang’s bicep and the other curling around Blake and Ruby’s shoulders. Ruby, for her part, settles half against Yang and half against Blake, letting Blake wrap her arms around her tightly as Yang holds all three of them close to her.

And so they sit, as hell rages on Remnant, finding solace in the arms of the family that they chose. 

**Author's Note:**

> So... Ladybros angst is a new thing for me. Let me know what y’all think 😅


End file.
